Eagles flex muscles, sweep O'Hara

DOWNINGTOWN – One of Led Zeppelin’s signature songs is “Whole Lotta Love.” The 2012 Bishop Shanahan volleyball team could produce its own signature song called “Whole Lotta Lott.”

When the Eagles played Cardinal O’Hara Wednesday evening, the game had a “Whole Lotta Lott” and it was more than the visiting Lions could handle.

Shananan’s stellar senior hitter Nicole Lott put on a dominating display -- and not just with her play at the net -- to lead the Eagles to a 3-0 sweep of an O’Hara team that is annually one of the best in the Philadelphia Catholic League.

The Eagles broke the first set open midway through and then rolled to a 25-18 win. In the second set, Shanahan burst out of the blocks like Usain Bolt pursuing Olympic gold and smoked the Lions, 25-13. O’Hara hung in better in the third set but the Eagles still won handily at 25-19.

“Nicole (Lott) was dominant tonight,” said Shanahan coach Greg Ashman. “When she turns it up a notch, there’s not much you can do to stop her.”

In three games, Lott had 18 kills, nine digs, six aces, five blocks -- and a hitting percentage of .550.

When informed of Lott’s hitting percentage by Ashman, O’Hara coach Bill Collins replied that he was surprised it wasn’t even higher.

“Nicole Lott is a great player,” said Collins. “We wanted to play a match like this -- to play the best teams around in our nonleague games. They proved why they’re the number one team in the state.

“Positionbyposition, they have very good players. There are no weak spots. They play great defense. They’re very fundamental with excellent passing and serving. And, they’re a smart team.”

O’Hara’s team is no slouch either.

The Lions, who lost for only the second time in 13 matches Wednesday night, are the favorites to win the Philadelphia Catholic League championship and the District 12 Class AAA title. They are also ranked fifth in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“I expected a tough match,” said Ashman, whose team is now 12-0 and ranked first in both Southeastern Pennsylvania and the state. “They gave us a good match. They kept it close in the first and third games.”

In the first set, the Eagles led the Lions, 19-18, heading into the stretch with tips, kills or shared blocks by Lott accounting for nine of the 18 points. A kill by Lott put her team ahead 20-18 as she took over the serve.

The Eagles picked up a point when an O’Hara hit went wide. Then, the Lions failed to return the next four serves by Lott and the result was a 25-18 win for the host team.

Early in the second set, Lott began serving with her team trailing 2-1. The standout senior responded with a five-point service run that included three kills by Katie Ibarguen and one by Lott. The Lions never recovered and barely broke into double figures.

O’Hara made a better challenge in the third set. But, whenever the Lions got too close, the Eagles came through with key points -- many on big hits by Ciaran Ashman, Haley Kleespies, Lott and Ibarguen.

“We knew O’Hara was a good team,” said Ibarguen. “And, we knew what we had to do. We’re pretty confident. We all know our roles on the court.”

Lott said, “We did a really good job tonight. This was definitely one of the most complete games we played. We played with confidence -- and O’Hara is a great team. This is the beginning of our playoffs -- of us making a run for what we want to do. If we play our game, we dictate the game.”